Ruby in Paradise

Florida-based independent filmmaker Victor Nuñez gave young actress Ashley Judd her breakthrough role with his original script about a woman taking to the road to escape her past and forge a new future for herself. Feeling smothered and confused after the death of her mother, Ruby Lee Gissing flees ...more

Ruby in Paradise is an honorable addition to the growing genre of films about women who take to the road to find themselves, an avenue once only reserved for men in films like Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Scarecrow, and Sullivan's Travels. Writer/director Victor Nuñez sidesteps the melodramatic possibilities (Ruby isn't toting a gun and she doesn't have to fight her way out of a possible rape), but he's also careful not to let the film descend into mawkish self-absorption. Ruby is smart, but ...more